Wednesday, August 29, 2012

My deepest thanks to marbleheadmaui of http://www.saddoboxing.com for posting this.

The Jimmy Wilde and Barney Ross books I summarized recently were both
useful and insightful. But Jack Dempsey's "Championship Fighting:
Explosive Punching and Aggressive Defense" is on another level entirely.
It is far longer and absolutely full of insights, thoughtful
approaches, sketches and explanations. It is a boxing tour de force. I
was very surprised by two things. First, I think of Dempsey as a kind of
raw offensive machine. It simply ain't true. The knowledge he imparts
here is comprehensive. Secondly, Dempsey and his editor Jack Cuddy make
it sounds like Dempsey is actually teaching the reader. Concise
declarative sentences. Written in 1950.

Dempsey spends a great deal of time on the Trigger Step (also called the
Falling Step) as a source of power among other things, but I found the
most interesting sections were on Defensive Technique. The thoughts
below are all Dempsey's except for those in parenthesis which are kine.

Dempsey begins with his definition of defense : How to prevent a starting punch from landing on its target, and how to counter with a punch.
(the bold is mine. How often do we see fighters today avoid getting hit
and not doing anything else? I found it fascinating that Dempsey was
utterly dismissive of jumping away or moving out of punching range as
legitimate, championship level defense. Why? Because it only does half
the job. Jumping away or moving out of range isn't Aggressive Defense
because one cannot counterpunch while doing those things.)

Dempsey provides a cascade of defense.

Blocking-This is
the least preferable. Why? A solid block can affect one's balance,
because repeated shots on say the left deltoid can affect punching power
as the fight goes on and because one cannot punch while blocking.
Blocking can be done with the hands, shoulders, combined with a body
pivot, forearms and elbows and can be used against all punches. Dempsey
goes punch by punch with the best options. He emphasizes the eyes must
be kept open because for each block there is a best immediate counter.
This is the first kind of defense to be taught. (Fighters like Mr.
Ronald Wright and Arthur Abraham never moved beyond it. Fighters like
James Toney and BHOP and Floyd Mayweather rely on the shoulder portion
of this technique).

Deflection-This is parrying and
"brushing off." Brushing off is also called "glancing-off." This is a
violent chopping movement. Deflection is superior to Blocking because
one's balance remains unaffected, one is not taking punches that can
wear over time and because it is done with one hand at a time so the
other is free to punch. One limitation of this technique is it should be
avoided against hooks. The parry is used against straight punches
(think Mr. Miyagi's "side-side.") Dempsey notes that cross-Parries, i.e.
blocking a left jab with one's left hand, are a bad idea as you are
open to a counter right hand with nothing to stop it. Dempsey also warns
against parrying "inside-out" against fast handed foes. The
"Glance-off" is a more solid deflection. This move is why fighters use
the backhand on the speedbag. This is training the deflection. (Think
"wax-on, wax-off" and "paint the fence" taught by Mr. Miyagi. Joe Louis,
Alexis Arguello and again BHOP, Toney and Floyd rely on this as does
Juan Manuel Marquez).

Evasion-The King of defensive techniques. Evasion is forcing the foe to miss a punch without any physical contact, while remaining in position to land a counter.
Why is it the king? No punishment taken and both hands free to
counterpunch. Dempsey outlines four ways to evade; Slipping, bobbing,
footwork and pulling away. A slip is simply rolling the shoulders that
allows a straight punch to go over a shoulder. (Willie Pep, Joe Gans,
Salvador Sanchez, Tony Canzoneri, Sweet Pea are wonderful practitioners
of this.) Dempsey outlines the best counter against each punch and
whether that punch has been slipped to the right or left. Bobbing is
simply artful bowing from the waist and is especially effective against
hooks to the head and in closing on the foe. No foot movement is used
for either the slip or the bob. As a result the feet are ready to punch.
Now when bobbing one must always be ready to simultaneously slip (the
"bob and weave"). By slipping while bobbing one makes the head hard to
hit and adds uncertainty as to where you are moving or punching next.
(Think Joe Frazier, Nicolino Locche, a young Mike Tyson and of course
Dempsey himself). Footwork can be the defensive sidestep, a single step
and a pivot with the other foot. If stepping right the right foot steps
and the left pivots. One punches as the stepping foot lands, not while
it is stepping. Another useful piece of footwork is stepping inside a
hook toward the foe. A variety of punches are available in each case.
But in general when stepping inside one throws the opposite hand of the
one being evaded. For example a left hook is best countered by stepping
inside and throwing the right hand. (Joe Gans, Floyd Mayweather, Barney
Ross, Willie Pep, Benny Leonard all did lots of this). The worst kind of
evasion is "pulling away." This is basically swaying from the waist and
shifting one's weight to the back foot with or without a step. This is a
last resort against straight punches but should never be used against
hooks to the head. (Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali anyone?). The problem
is once someone gets used to pulling away from straight punches they
often instinctively try to do so against hooks.

Click for larger pic Been in a Steven Seagal mood. Made some animated GIFs of him in action. Please check out this Steven Seagal movie....

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